Devil May Cry
by Maragi
Summary: This is the story of the young Ardor, how his fate and role in the world plays out, and the story of Dante & Vergil, their mysterious clashing and Ardor's first demonic quests. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

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_**Author's note:** No long note, just that the story and its original characters are mine, Capcom owns the rest, none of the Devil May Cry games and its events has taken place, ever, and the prequel I'm writing isn't Devil May Cry 3 since the game hasn't been released yet. However, many things will be taken from the gamr, to give that nostalgic feeling, that even though it's new, it's still familiar, a spice I admire whenever I read a book, watch a film or play a game._

_The story is mainly about Ardor, the young child who is raised from a young age to his teens by Dante, and is soon thrown into a world he never wanted part of. And the clashing between Dante and Vergil is also important, but a very important thing you might as well keep in mind right from the very start is that whenever you read about a character from the games, do not expect them to have the same roles as in the games, not even Dante. I am especially referring to not only Sparda, but also his twin children, Dante and Vergil._

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**Chapter 1 - Odd Pair Out**

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**The train slowly rolled in, and the people at the train station eagerly walked to their respective train compartments. Ardor walked onboard the train and looked at his train tickets, took his seat in front of another man. The man was tallish, with a muscular build and silvery, white hair. He was dressed in leather brown trousers, a black tee shirt and a crimson red trenchcoat. The man, he noticed, was staring back at him.

"Hey", Ardor said and smiled. The man neither replied nor smiled. "Right then..."

Ardor continued to look at the man. Since he was only eleven years old himself, he didn't try to provoke the man, even though they were on a train, with other people around. Now, however, they were the only ones in their row. It was rather late, so there weren't many people on the train.

"Are you going to say something or not?" Ardor finally said.

"Sit somewhere else", the man said and looked out the window. Ardor didn't move.

"Where are you going off then?"

"Not where you are, that's for sure", the man replied as a voice announced through some speakers that they were passing Harbington, and that they were soon arriving in Harlington. When the man prepared himself to stand up, Ardor asked: "Is this your stop?"

"Yeah", the man said and sighed. "Are you an orphan or something? Do we know each other?"

"No, we don't, mister", Ardor replied and smiled.

"Why're you alone so late?" the man asked. "You're an urchin or something, aren't you?"

"No, mister", Ardor answered and looked down. "I was just told to deliver a note to some man at Harlington."

"What does the note say?"

"It says first that the password is 'Albatross', and then that I, Ardor, have to visit a man called Dante at an agency in Harlington called Devil May Cry. Mum said that he can help me with whatever killed dad."

The man looked vividly at Ardor, a stern look upon his face. The train slowed down; they had arrived at Harlington. The man got up, and Ardor did the same. They waited for the train to slow down before Ardor finally asked the man if he could take him to the agency. The man nodded and they both got off the train. The train rolled onwards, and disappeared, leaving the two alone on the station.

"I'm the man you're looking for, kid", the man suddenly said, still not looking at Ardor. "I'm Dante, owner of the detective agency Devil May Cry."

"I thought so", Ardor answered, rather unsurprised. "You look like a Dante. Mum said that you were the best in your field."

"You listen a lot to your mother, don't you?" the silver-haired man said. "What's her name?"

"I don't know..." Ardor said and blushed. "I've always just called her mum..."

"That's alright", Dante said and smiled. "Are you sure there's no other reason she sent you here? Why didn't she come with you?"

"She said that if I got myself in trouble, I would be able to defend myself... what was she talking about, mister Dante?"

"Dante's fine", he replied and chuckled, but then looked seriously back at Ardor. "Defend yourself at... you're not more than twelve years old, right?"

"Eleven", Ardor replied. "And my name's Ardor, by the way, mister Dante."

"Only Dante, Ardor... well, well, I see..." Dante mumbled and realized that this Ardor probably had more or less demonic blood flowing in his veins. "Are you fast?"

"Kind of", Ardor replied and shook his shoulders. "I can run as fast as those teenage boys."

"Are you strong then?"

"I don't know. I'm the strongest one in my class", Ardor said and shrugged. "Why do you wanna know? Oh, oh, oh! Are you going to teach me something!"

"I think so", Dante said and smiled. He was sure that he was supposed to take care of this little boy. "What's your name then?"

"I'm Ardor", the little boy replied, "And you're Dante. So, mum also said that you were nuts. Is that true?"

"Maybe, kid", Dante said and blinked. "Maybe I am."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Midnight Groove**

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**Ardor ran his fingers through his black spiky hair, and pulled his sheet over his head. He could hear Dante calling at him from downstairs. Ardor, who simply wanted to enjoy his day off, was persistent on not getting up from bed. After all, there was no school on this Friday, and nine o' clock in the morning was a bit too early for him. He was surprised that Dante was awake.

"_Get down here, or I'll drag you down!_" Ardor heard Dante shout. He was still lying on his bed when he heard Dante walking up the stairs.

"Alright, alright! Fine, I'm getting up!" Ardor barked back at Dante and muttered angrily to himself. "Lemme put on some clothes, at least..."

"You've had enough time", Dante said as he opened the door to Ardor's room; a room that fitted a small television, a bed a small desk, and of course, a wardrobe. His school bag was lying on the floor. His desk was far from untidy. Books were sorted neatly, and the only thing that lied in a slight mess was a notebook with a pencil nearby, and an open book.

"Why do you need me?" Ardor asked as he pulled on a pair of black trousers and a black tee shirt. "Is it about you and your lazy ass not being able to make some breakfast?"

"Shut up", Dante said and snorted. "The longer _your_ ass is off the bed the less brown it gets."

"At least I don't swim in my yellow liquids", Ardor mocked back.

"No but you'll swim in your red liquids if you don't keep your mouth shut", Dante sneered and gave Ardor a cold look, who opened his mouth to retort, but decided it was best not to say anything at all. Instead, he simply followed Dante downstairs and to Dante's rather large desk. There were a few bottles of beer on the floor near the desk, a black old phone and a picture of a very beautiful, blonde young woman, who was Dante's late mother.

"So, what did you need me for?" Ardor asked and waited for an answer as Dante sat on his chair and was toying a little with his trusted twin pistols which he always took special care of: Ebony Ivory.

"I just got a call from someone. It's a big one, and a big reward. I was thinking, since you're on your spare time now and old enough, you're coming with me. It's not a request; I'm forcing you."

"Count me in!" Ardor answered and laughed. "Thing is, I don't have a weapon."

"I'll lend you one", Dante said and got up from the chair. "Follow me."

Dante walked to a sturdy-looking iron door, took out some keys from his pockets and inserted one of them in the lock. He turned the key and a sound told Ardor that the door was now unlocked. Dante opened the door, and went down a staircase. Ardor followed him down until they reached another door which Dante unlocked with the same key and led Ardor to a neat, large room.

"This is my weapon arsenal, which I've collected ever since I was little over your age."

Ardor looked at the room. There was a desk with a two-barrelled, sawed-off shotgun and a small wooden box lying on the table. Dante opened the box with a smaller key and took out a silvery chain with a very beautiful pendant on it. The pendant was also silvery, and large, and it was surrounding a beautiful, red gem; like a ruby, but a hint of purple reflected on the pendant.

"Is that magical or something?" Ardor asked.

"This... this belonged to my mother, Eva", Dante said softly and sighed. "The other half of it is missing... it's the only memento left from her."

"Oh... I'm sorry..." Ardor said and put his hand on Dante's shoulder. "Do you know where the other half is?"

"I..." Dante began, but then took a deep breath. "I've no clue where it is."

"I see", Ardor replied and slightly nodded his head, and then continued to look around. "This is rather impressive", he finished as Dante put on the pendant.

"Sure is", he responded and cracked his knuckles. Ardor continued to look at the weapons. He saw a normal medieval sword leaning on a corner and next to it was a finer decorated sword with a hilt shaped zigzag. Dante lifted it off its beautiful case and swung it a little. "This sword, the Force Edge, is a memento from my father."

"Not bad", Ardor said and bent his head a little. "Hey, you've never told me about your dad, have you? Mind filling me in?"

"Have you ever heard about the Legendary Dark Knight?"

"I've read about him in one of your books. He's the guy who formed a rebel group and waged war against the other demons of the Underworld, right?"

"The books are wrong", Dante declared firmly. "He defeated Mundus and sealed away the Underworld from the mortal realm alone, preventing Mundus from invading Earth. His name was Sparda. He was my father."

The booming sound of a lightning could be heard outside. Ardor looked at the sword Dante was holding. If that sword had once belonged to the Legendary Dark Knight himself, then surely it must've been powerful. But he couldn't see how such a simple sword had the power to defeat someone as powerful as a demonic god. Or maybe, there was something else about the sword and Sparda...

Ardor didn't have to look at the other weapons before Dante shoved a sword in his hands. It was rather large, with a long grip and a rather broad, large hilt the expanded into the blade. The hilt was carved with motifs of flat, black skulls. Ardor took an immediate liking to the sword.

"I used this for a while when some idiot needed help with a demon. I used to call it 'Woozy', but you can give it a name of your own if you want."

"How about", Ardor said and smirked, "Rebellion?"

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The mission was to investigate a school in the desolate, lonely town of Harbington. Dante and Ardor had driven on Dante's motorcycle for about an hour from Harlington before they reached the designated area. Dante stopped instantly right outside the main entrance of the school and walked over to the double doors. Dante was wearing his red trousers and a red shirt with his trench coat worn over. Ardor was still in his black tee shirt and trousers. Both of them wore black boots.

"This is it", Dante said and drew his sword from his back. Ardor let his sword hang from his back. "Aaaaand the doors are no more."

As he said the sentence, he kicked on one door. The door was pushed back a few feet before slamming the floor. Dante put his sword to his back and pulled out Ebony. The school was dark, and rather eerie. Ardor noticed a turned-over wheelchair with one wheel still spinning with decent speed.

"Well, well", Dante said and pointed at something. Ardor walked over to Dante and noticed that it was some sort of map. "Ardor, you stay up here and investigate the first floor. I'll go check out the basement."

Ardor nodded and looked at the map a few seconds.

"The stairs leading to the basement is on the far end of the school's left wing", Ardor said and pointed at the map. "You go left then, and I'll go right."

"Sounds like a plan", Dante said and disappeared through the door to the left. Ardor walked to the right door, opened it, and stepped inside a waiting room. He found two doors; one led to the hallway, and another to the biology room. He entered the class room and chuckled at the memories of the biology classes a couple of years ago. He looked around in the class room when he heard the sound of a window breaking. And then he heard a scream.

"Dammit!" Ardor cursed to himself and rushed out of the room, and into a small passage that led to the chemistry room, and past that, to the class room where they educated mathematics. He looked around and noticed a door only a few feet away from the blackboard. He opened it quickly and rushed out to a small corridor with stairs leading to the second floor. He rushed up the stairs, past a door, and stopped as he stood in the second floor hallway. "What the hell..."

Before Ardor's eyes walked a lizard of some sort on its four. It was at least as large as him, and was very muscular. It wasn't really wearing anything, but it appeared to have very hard skin, and jaws with sharp teeth. Ardor also guessed that its claws were dangerous.

"This can't be good..." Ardor whispered as he held his breath, watching the beast. This was probably the first demon he had ever seen. What was it doing in a school in Harbington? Ardor was glad that the beast hadn't noticed him. Very glad. Cautiously, slowly, and very carefully, Ardor drew his sword, and carefully walked towards the monster. "I've never fought with one of these before..."

The beast turned rapidly around with a growl, startling the tense Ardor. It gave away a screech before jumping at him, attempting to swipe him with its claws. Ardor jumped aside, evading the beast, but the demon quickly leapt once more towards him. Ardor dodged under it, and paced a few feet away from it, making sure he had a rather safe distance. The beast walked slowly, keeping an eye on him, observing.

"Get over here, you scabby little reptile", Ardor spat in taunt, and firmly gripped his sword. The beast dashed towards him, and Ardor rushed towards the beast. Ardor stepped aside while running, and managed to slice a bit on the beast's arm. Ardor smiled and saw the blood dripping off the demon. However, he stopped smiling when he heard the sound of steps that sounded identical to the monster. "It can't be..."

Ardor turned around and saw how another demon approached. He looked at both of his sides, and was even more discouraged when he saw three more further down the hall, and a sixth one clutching the walls. A seventh one was climbing the ceiling. This was too much. He had never before had any actual practise with swords, nor had he seen let alone battled a demon, and now there were seven of them? He was doomed. He had to tell himself that he was doomed.

"I'm doomed."

He laughed and repeated.

"Dude, Ardor", he said to himself as the beasts approached him. "You're doomed. But if I am, I might as well go out with a big boom bang!"

He rushed towards the lizard that was alone, and performed a few swings he imagined would be useful, even though he had no idea what was useful.

Five minutes later, Ardor found himself defending and running from the beasts. So far he had managed to slay one, and greatly wounded another, but he had five rather healthy demons chasing him around the hallway. He was growing rather tired of fleeing when he finally made an abrupt stop and observed the demons.

"I'm not that much different from them", he said to himself and cracked a broad smirk. "Why am I afraid? I can kill them if I want."

Firmly gripping his sword again, this time with both hands, Ardor took a prepared stance, waiting for any beast to attack, and attack back.

"C'mon you filthy bastards... come here..."

One of them leapt in mid-air, and Ardor leapt up as well, and quickly, slashed the beast four times across each side, slashing it backwards several feet at the fourth swipe before he landed on his feet. He busted a door open and ran downstairs to the large hallway with all the lockers, sheathed the sword on his back and ran as fast as he could out to the great hall, with the demonic lizards stalking speedily behind him. He crashed through the double doors and into the great hall.

"Gotcha now, suckers!"

He drew Rebellion and slashed rather skilfully at the reptile. When another swooped from behind, Ardor made an impressive back flip and landed on a table. The reptiles hissed and jumped up to the roof, and then dropped rapidly towards Ardor, who flipped forward while slicing with his sword at the demon, which fell in two pieces, crashing the table.

One reptile had learned to block the swipes from the swords, but Ardor plunged his sword forward and pierced the beast's jaws, withdrew the sword quickly and slashed upwards, sending the beast furiously rolling against another one.

"This fiesta's getting funky!" Ardor exclaimed and felt a unique adrenaline rush. "Alright!"

Ardor plunged his sword at another beast, broke his skull and slashed the last one to death. At first he felt triumph, but then the sight of the slaughter and the stench forced him to leave the hall. He also took the opportunity to find some curtains to wipe the blood off his sword before he put it on his back.

And now, Ardor remained in confusion. He had no idea what those demons were doing in the school, and he had no idea who had screamed earlier. He walked around the school searching, until he stumbled across the door leading to the basement. _"I'll go check out the basement"_, was what Dante had said. Maybe it was best to leave the basement to Dante. But then again...

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****Author's Note:** __Sorry for the long delay, I could've updated about a day earlier, but I got a minor writer's block, and decided to halt the chapter at around 5+ pages. I'd like to thank all of you who have given reviewed to my fanfic; trust me, it lifts my spirits waaaay high, and greatly encourages me to keep writing and update while you're still waiting with excitement._ _**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Advent of Malevolence**

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**"So we found him", a dark voice muttered in the cold night. The voice belonged to a human figure that stood nearly seven foot tall. His skin was hard and black like a raven, his body muscular, and his eyes dark blue. Little could be seen of the man. He had a black sword carried on his back. It was large and appeared to be heavy.

"We've yet to confirm that he is here", another cool voice said. This voice belonged to a man who stood six foot tall, had a mix of blue eyes with a hint of grey and had almost snow-white hair that was combed back in spikes. He was wearing blue trousers and a blue vest in hard leather, and a dark blue trench coat worn over. "Don't get your hopes up."

"You just wait, I can feel his presence already, I'll have his head-

"_Your hopes, Alastor!_" the man with the white hair hissed angrily and gave the other man a murderous look. "I don't care if you're one of the cruellest demons of the Underworld, you are in league with me, and I will not tolerate the behaviour of a lunatic berserker!"

"You're not exactly cool yourself, are you?" the demon spat back and looked out at the city from the roof which they were standing at.

"That's because your intolerance is childish and annoying", the white-haired man replied coldly and indifferently as he, too, eyed the city. "Who informed you that Dante lived here in Harbington?"

"Harbington?" the demon replied and looked at his companion. "I heard from my scout that he lived in Harlington..."

"We're at the wrong place then", the man simply replied. "They call you 'The Executioner', my friend Alastor, but I've yet to see you execute something else than speeches about your admirable strength you thick, dim-witted piece of brawn."

Alastor quickly drew his sword and swung it at the man with the trench coat, who quickly dodged it and made a flip backwards. As he landed, he drew his long samurai sword and glared vividly at Alastor.

"You'll never attempt that ever again, Alastor!"

"Being the son of Sparda does not give you the right to taunt me, Vergil!"

"That's enough Alastor", the half-devil exclaimed as the black demon attacked him again. Vergil blocked the sword swiftly and skilfully, but Alastor got an upper hand and kicked Vergil, who stumbled back and found his vest slightly dirty. He wiped it all off and tightened his grip around his curved sword as he gave away a faint smile and continued to have his eyes fixed on Alastor.

"Are you going to kill me?" Vergil said and slid his sword back to its sheath that was hanging down from a belt. "Go ahead if you feel the need of it. Don't forget who you're dealing with, though."

"You're half-devil, not even full-blood", Alastor said and sheathed his sword on his back. "I've yet to see why you're so admirable yourself."

"You're not meant to know", Vergil whispered, "but if you insist..."

Swift like a split second, Vergil drew his sword again. In the flash of an instant, he had darted against Alastor, who barely managed to block with his sword. Vergil swung his sword at well-placed spots only a few times before his blade was resting on Alastor's neck, barely touching the skin.

"We're not here to fight, Alastor, we're here to retrieve the Force Edge from Dante, and his half of the amulet." Vergil put his hand to his pocket and pulled out a silver chain similar to Dante's, and the pendant on it was identical to Dante's. "My twin brother doesn't realize its powers; he just thinks the amulet and the Force Edge are remains from our parents."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because several years ago we had a clashing, when we were very young. He's never bothered about finding me ever since." Vergil glanced at Alastor. "Why are you still here? Get moving to Harlington; if Dante's there, I want him. Do NOT kill him! Knock him down if you must, but I want to do battle with him fair and square. This time I'll finish him off."

Alastor and Vergil looked at each other for a while, and then with a rumbling, suppressed cry, Alastor constricted himself even though not visible, and two huge and bat-like, black wings grew out from his back. Alastor jumped away from the building, flapping his wings fast and hard before he managed to take flight, soaring high up in the air and away from Harbington.

Vergil sheathed his sword again and looked out at Harbington. He noticed that one nearby building in particular was peculiar. It was a school building, and yet, in the middle of the night at a Friday, a motorcycle echoed silently throughout the city. At first, Vergil paid the vehicle no attention. Then he immediately noticed the driver; crimson red trench coat and white hair.

"Dante", Vergil whispered and watched as they slowed down. Both Dante and his passenger got off the motorcycle and entered the school building. Vergil noticed a few blades entering through the windows of the second floor. Without hesitation, he jumped down the three floors high building and landed on his feet, supporting the fall with one knee. "So you were here after all... don't worry, brother... I've got you..."

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"This is the third time I yawn", said Dante after yawning. He walked around the basement floor of the school, and found only boring corridors, dull hallways and truly ugly rooms. It helped when he stumbled across a room with several instruments. The blatantly ignored the bass, the piano and even the electric guitar. He sat on the stool with the leather skin cover and put his foot on the pedal, pushing it once in a while before he started playing the drums. He noticed that the Blades - demonic warrior lizards – were approaching, and by the time he was playing in a crazed frenzy, the Blades jumped at him.

Dante smashed the drum set, breaking them before he flipped it over, completely wrecking it, and drew his sword. He impaled the demonic beast and crashed out of the room, piercing it on the wall before he withdrew the Force Edge and chopped the head off of another Blade.

"Like a child's game", Dante mused to himself as he slew a few more using only one hand. "A pizza would be delicious by now."

Having retreated to the basement entrance, Dante kicked out the Blade in the room, closed the door and put the sword on his back, the blood still dripping from it. He slowly walked up the creaked stairs towards the door that was slightly opened, and opened it. He was met by normal light, but found no one there.

Dante walked past the doors and corridors, and noticed that quite a few Blades were lying on the floor, apparently killed by a swordsman. Dante shrugged and headed towards the main hall and the opened the double doors of the schools, and walked outside. He looked over to his left and sighed in relief. His motorcycle was still there. It was then that he noticed that Ardor wasn't there.

Dante groaned at the thought of having to go back and look for him. Instead he sat on his motorcycle and waited a few minutes. Once those minutes had passed, he waited some more. Still no Ardor. Dante groaned and got off his motorcycle. When he headed for the double doors, he heard a soaring sound, and suddenly, before he had time to react, a huge ball of fire crashed on the front side of the school, causing a huge explosion to erupt. The blast pushed Dante dozens of yards away, crashing against a brick wall. When he looked up, he could see another fire ball ramming the school, blasting it away.

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**_Author's Note:_** _I'm delaying more with my chapters ( really sorry about that. I've had many tests and stuff this week, and I have a few other projects and such, so I haven't had time to write. I finally got around to writing this chapter today, and now it's finished! Not as long as the previous chapter, but hopefully this'll pump things up now that we've got a few major bad-asses in the story, eh?_

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	4. Chapter 4

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_**Author's Note:** Sorry for not doing this sooner. I've gone through some really bad times, still am,and lost inspiration to finish the, like, last half page of this chapter when the rest was finished 4 days ago. Hope this doesn't get boring. This chapter's nearly the same as its predecessor, but now the villains have been introduced along with some minions and lesser demons, now the next chapter should now go in depth on these characters; finally the plot can thicken, the characters grow and develop, and see some actual progress. I guarantee that there'll be an... well, unusual bang in the following chapter._

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**Chapter 4 – Fire Destroyer**

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Ardor was just about to open the door that led to the basement when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and was met by a quick punch, which caused him to drop immediately.

Ardor opened his eyes again. He looked up and saw a man with long, stone grey hair bending down towards him. By looking at his eyes, he could see that he wasn't human; where there was supposed to be white, there was a completely pitch black colour instead, and in the middle, there was no colour; just pure white. It looked as if the colours in his eyes were being sucked in.

"Get up", the moody man rumbled in a very deep and dark voice and grabbed Ardor, lifted him up and dragged him away. Ardor noticed that the man was wrapped in a red robe with a cloak wrapped further on. He wasn't wearing any shoes, either. Ardor noticed that he was outdoors now. Where he was, he didn't know. The man grabbed him again and jumped up, and landed on the roof of a building where he slammed Ardor on the ceiling floor. It hurt.

"Who-" Ardor began, but the man punched Ardor again, who quickly punched back and rolled away, got up to his feet and swiftly drew his Rebellion. "Who the heck are you?"

"Fight?" the man simply asked. Ardor had no idea what he was talking about. "Respond."

"Why should I? Get over here instead, or speak clearly."

"Fine", the man once again simply replied. "Dante dies."

Ardor opened his eyes as he saw the man looking far away. In the far distance, he could see something fiery and blazing moving. It stopped, and for a moment, he saw the light growing brighter, and then a distant noise could be heard, followed by a huge fiery fire ball rising up to the skies, and then descending towards a large building... the school.

Ardor tensed his eyes, widening them as he watched the fire ball blast away a part of the school. Another fire ball rammed the school, and the entire building exploded, completely bombarded. Ardour quickly turned to the smiling man and gave him a look filled with loathing and hatred.

"Damn you..." Ardor mumbled angrily and gripped his sword tightly, readying to kill the man. He would not hesitate. "You coward...!"

"She lives", the man stated angrily. "Your mother."

"Shut the hell up!" Ardor whispered and thundered towards them man, attempting to slash his sword against him. However, the man was quick to dodge, and then swiftly moved aside, almost as if teleporting. "Stand still, you bastard!"

Ardor attempted many more slashes, but the man moved further and further on, evading and dodging at unrealistic speed. Ardor flipped backwards and sheathed his sword, preparing to lunge at the man with his fists. Although, he never got the chance; the evil man's eyes began to glow all white, and Ardor realized that this demon was probably a truly strong demon that was out of his league; he probably had powers beyond Ardor's imagination. A power Ardor received a hint of.

The man stretched his hand forward, and immediately fired a charged energy ball at Ardor. Even though Ardor evaded the energy ball, the ball continued on forward, and blasted into four parts that became rays of energy that looped around and headed for Ardor again. He was struck by all four, and was pushed back towards the man with the white eyes, and the man flung another energy ball at Ardor, who was now struck by both sides. Ardor fell, and ached in pain as the man made a wild stomp on his stomach and chest, and finally kicked him, flipping him over on his back.

"She dies", the man said darkly before walking away. "Arachne. Take him."

Ardor looked as the man jumped down from the building, disappearing. Ardor tried to regain his strength, feeling pain all over his body. After a few minutes, he managed to get up, and he wiped dust and filth off his clothes. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He could still feel bruises here and there, and his ribs were still aching painfully. He also had a terrible headache. The man had spoken in few words, but he understood that the bombing of the school had been on purpose since Dante was there. However, why him? What did he matter?

He saw a flock of very small fiery spiders creeping up. He sighed and stepped them all to death. He loved and hated the disgusting sound of stepping on them. Then he saw some more spiders. Not as small as those ones.

"Shit", he hissed and silently uttered very nasty words indeed. A horde of sky blue, disgusting, fat spiders as large as those demon reptiles were creeping up on the large ceiling floor. Ardor pulled out the Rebellion and groaned. He was definitely not in the mood of fighting. But he realized that he would be able to kill them; he may not have the same strength as Dante, but he was certainly not a weakling.

The spiders which Ardor guessed were called Arachne hurried their way towards him. He estimated there to be at least more than a dozen of them, and he was certain that there were many more. Sighing, Ardor waited for the first one to draw near before he slashed away at the spiders.

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Dante got up from the ground, watching the little remains of the Harbington Elementary School crackling here and there with small dancing flames of fire. He looked around and saw shards, bits and pieces of bricks and wood from the school. He walked across the ruins, trying to see what had caused the explosion when he heard footsteps from behind. He turned around and saw someone wrapped in red robes with stone grey hair and white eyes that glowed occasionally.

"Well, well", Dante whispered and stepped away from the ruins, walking towards the man in circles. "What have we here?"

Dante knew that the man was a demon; he sensed it, and he could see it. This man had something to do with the bombing of the school.

"Oh fine", Dante sighed and drew his handguns, pointing Ebony at him. "Don't speak. Just die."

Dante charged his gun and fired a charge shot against the man who ducked from the shot and retaliated with a horde of thin, blue energy rays soaring against Dante. Dante smiled and stood still as he was struck by the energy rays. He merely winced, glanced at the man and gave him the finger.

"Let's rock, two-face!"

Dante rushed towards him and drew Force Edge, swinging it against the man who quickly evaded, and was not hit a single time until Dante made an incredibly fast swing with his sword; the blade cut right across the man's chest, causing blood to trickle down from the man. Dante smiled and pointed Ebony at the man's face.

"Embrace my bullet; it's worth more than your lousy outfit anyway", Dante said and fired a bullet. The remains of the man were a transparent image that slowly faded away. At first, Dante thought that he had killed the demon, but then realized that the man had actually managed to evade the bullet. How he had done it, Dante didn't know.

"There is no way you can defeat me, Dante", the man whispered and grinned evilly. "You're weak, _human_."

Dante narrowed his eyes angrily, but then widened them as three red shiny dots appeared behind the man, like a surge of energy drawing the wind to it, and space itself as the man became transparent and completely red. Then he disappeared inside the wave, and then the three red dots disappeared, and the wind turned normal again.

"Three red dots..." Dante whispered. "Where have I seen...?"

Without thinking any further, Dante ran away from the ruins and hurried back to Harlington, even though he knew it would take forever to do so.

* * *

Ardor slashed away more and more of the Arachne, watching more blue spiders crawling up to him. Since there only were half a dozen that crept up this time, he knew that the ones on the roof now were the last ones. The Rebellion was being swung in many directions, tearing through the thick bodies of the spiders, and when they were sliced and cleaved, blue blood gushed out and disgusting noises echoed whenever they were slashed apart. Ardor kept slicing, slashing and plunging his sword through them, and when the final Arachne was slain, he sheathed the Rebellion and walked at the left edge of the roof, where there were no parts of the spider demons.

"The hell is this..." Ardor groaned and sat down at the edge of the roof. If there was anything that truly upset him, it was this night. First he was attacked by a bunch of Blades, and then knocked down by a demon man who probably could've killed him. Finally, he was ambushed by a horde of Arachne right after being beaten down. Indeed, he muttered angrily to himself and hoped that the attacks would stop coming.

They didn't stop at all.

Ardor looked out and saw the fiery light drawing near. From here, he could actually see what it was. But he didn't have the full time to determine, for the entire building he stood on rumbled for some reason, and he fell down from the roof. He was falling headlong when he flipped over and landed on his feet.

A few minutes later, Ardor heard a rumbling, and turned around, looking up at one of the skyscrapers. A gigantic beast was climbing on the surface of the building, and jumped up away from it, and landed right on front of Ardor, who nearly fell when the ground shook.

The beast was really enormous. Ardor swallowed. It looked like a gargantuan mix of a scorpion and a spider made of lava stone and liquid, hot magma. It had six huge legs, and each leg had an end like a huge claw, and it had eight large, blue eyes. The beast had parts of its body that showed its flowing magma, whereas other parts like larger parts of its head, tail and legs were grey, hardened lava.

"Ah can you be...?" the beast said loudly with a smoggy and hoarse, echoing voice that reminded of ashes and stones for some reason. "You're not him!"

The beast's eight eyes turned red as the beast grunted quite angrily. The interior of his mouth was flowing magma as well. Ardor felt the heat from the fire spider's mouth. He was very sure that the best thing to do now was to escape, but he had no way to flee from the gargantuan beast. Fighting would be useless; he felt like an amateur trying to take on a veteran.

"No wait, you're...!" the beast murmured and then shrieked. "You're the son of- no, can it be...!"

"Great thanks", Ardor responded mindlessly and slowly backed away. "Good night. Bye!"

Without delaying any further, Ardor quickly turned around and ran as fast as he could away from the fire spider. He found it amusing that spider didn't pursue him. When he looked back, he had found the irony in his thought; the fire spider had been gathering some form of fire energy, and Ardor just then realized that he was going to have a fire ball blasting towards him.

And he fled. He threw himself aside as the fire ball soared by him, pierced a building and caused it to explode as it rammed a nearby house block and caused the front wall to blow away. He noticed that he had foolishly tossed himself in a back alley. He heard angry and smoggy, heavy breathing along with booming stomping drawing closer and closer rapidly. The beast finally reached the alley and slowly moved closer to Ardor, who found himself cornered.

"Now you cannot flee, and I'll crush you into dust!" the fire spider bellowed. Ardor noticed how scraps of paper had already been turned to ashes, and that the windows were on the process of melting. He was quite warm as well, feeling the hot breath of the spider upon him. He also noticed how the blade on his Rebellion was heating up. Ardor smiled and looked up at his surroundings. Today he would flee.

"No time to meddle with you, chum", Ardor said and cracked his knuckles. "I've got a place to return to."

Ardor took all of his strength, focused hard and instantly jumped as far up as he could, grabbed onto a balcony rail and swung himself further up, grabbed the edge of the roof above and flipped over to the roof acrobatically, leaving the fire spider nearly trapped in the alley; the demon tried to move out of the alley, but it was going slow. Ardor smiled as the fire spider screamed furiously. Both of them knew that Ardor had the chance to escape and he would take it.

"Feel free to blast yourself out of here, I don't care", Ardor said as he noticed that the city was deserted. "This is a battle ground, comrade; the place is deserted. I'll kick your ass later."

He knew that it was unlikely that he could do such a thing, but he smirked viciously at the fire spider and ran away as the fire spider continued to roar mightily with anger.


End file.
